Their long legs remind us of our deep connection with Mother Earth
Like the roots of a wise old tree, they reflect standing firmly in the ground

We need our legs to be securely anchored in Nature’s shifting tides
so that we do not drown in Her undertow

May the Force Awaken when you breathe in through the top of your head
Let your Chi flow downward, draining from the soles of your feet
Feel your energy flow while sinking into the ground . . .

Know how to stand on your own two legs
Your intuition will tell you when to stick your neck out and snatch opportunities

But for now, just relax and allow things to happen organically

When situational factors call for a change in your game plan,
Meditation on Heron awakens the ability to readjust our perspective

Instead of needing to “figure it all out”, paralyzed by the minutia of problems
Trust the flow of the Universe to provide novel solutions to present themselves when the time is right

See you up the trails,

Ari

I am looking forward to the forthcoming arrival of my first professionally published book, Something to Chew On: Digesting Healthy Spiritual Food for the Soul in the Calendar Year Ahead. I will keep you posted regarding when it will be released to the public. This book is a collaboration of my writing and my Aunt Barbara’s artwork. I have confident faith that it will be a helpful trail guide along the path of walking meditation.

A Strawberry Full Moon descends on our fields early on in the week ahead
A.K.A. Rose Moon on traditional European shores

Heron lands with firm conservative footing
Anchored in an energetic footprint of
aggressive self-determination and self-reliance

Imagine planetary movers, shakers and followers of authentic conservatism
Becoming positive role models of these ideals in their day-to-day operations
Then Heron’s Higher truths would become self-evident

Heron’s long legs cue us to connect with our Mother Earth
Animal Spirits are helpful guides to venture into the Dreamtime
Bringing back wisdom for powerful living when docking back in our waters here

We are multidimensional beings . . .
Our Universe has no place for weapons of mass destruction
It is time to let them go with clean love and clean care

Now is the time to release ego-centered, aristocratic-oligarchical intentions
And move on up into win-win, power to the people global relations

Are you hip to a growing movement of folks traveling into alternate realities –
while leaving their bodies behind?

But meditation on Heron brings us back to the Earth and into our form
Reminding us to nurture our roots growing into the Motherland
We are at home here on Earth and in our bodies
Do you feel Her heartbeat and your own in alignment as One?

Picture the living energy housed in your body
Draining downward from the soles of your feet
Feeling your flowing energy sinking into the ground

Remembering tolerance for others who have not arrived at this
Inner state of consciousness or are less wired this way in their orientations
Builds a foundation of empathy in all of us

In order to successfully wade through the murky waters of a
Dying old world into a blossoming New Earth . . .
We need to quiet our mind into the mindful world of meditative self-examination

It is good medicine to hear when to be sharp
Understand when to stick your neck out and snatch an opportunity and
Know how to stand on your own two legs

Even on the surface –
Nature reflects its depth
We are all mirrors of progressive evolution

Mercury in Retrograde resurrects the ghosts of yesteryear
A death of an old self and revisiting past relationships
Reveals information about the kind of person we want to become today

We need “jack of all trade” generalists in our modern world of specialization –
Opening our eyes to see the “big picture”
There is security in knowing that there are many roads to get to your destination

Heron awakens the ability to readjust our perspective

Flying away from marshes of a “that’s just the way we’ve always done it” mentality
Soaring fluidly into the shores of infinite solution-focused possibilities

Keeping up with the Joneses is a well-trained mantra
in our modern externally directed world.
But this kind of living is finite and unsustainable.

We are living in an expert society . . .
Where temptations abound to give up our power to another –
Like we do when reacting violently or putting a guru on a pedestal.

But with Heron, we are snatching aggressive self-determination, self-reliance
and heeding the call of our own innate wisdom to know what path we must follow.
We need to remember to temper our raw emotions
by channeling our energy into positive and constructive action.

The only sustainable way to co-create change in our world is from the inside out.
Revolutionary zeal – without the hate.

Overcoming our fear of the unknown means leaning into our feelings.
Gut wrenching as they might be –
We are here to learn lessons.
And while gentle growth is a real possibility –
Try not to demonize getting uncomfortable . . .
By swooping in with protective sanitation tactics.

Meditate on children for a moment . . .
Are they not conduits into a deeper understanding
of the mystery of the present moment?
Are you going with the flow of these changing tides –
While moving through transitions as gracefully as possible?

If you are focused on life’s cosmetic imperfections . . .
Beyond a cursory glance –
Take a closer look at what is stimulating your soul from a deeper place.
Sitting with that might buy you time and save you money . . .
from surgically adding more scar tissue.

Heron reflects to us that our legs are conduits to our roots into the earth.
In a balanced way, we are all here to learn to stand on our own two feet.
Connecting with water element gives us an opportunity to
Wade through life’s multi-dimensional realities.

Even in chaos, there is order . . .
Got unpredictable?
There is predictability and security within that.
Trust in the infinite field of solutions and let go of it.
Resolution is on its way – perhaps when you are no longer looking.

Full Moon on Friday the 13th – a bloody good time to honor Sacred Feminine
energies and weave them into our daily walk.

Coming soon, Summer Solstice brings light of masculine yang to its peak.
A good time for manifestation of spirited energies to break out.

As we move further into the Aquarian New Age.
Flock with birds of like-minded feathers
O’er mountain-tops, in the heart of a community or other natural
power centers for New World congregation.

Access and acquire Heron’s medicine
to capitalize on free-flowing energies that are frequently missed opportunities.

I remember when I was catching up with folks at our 10 year High School reunion and peer poignantly chimed in, “at some point I realized nobody else was gonna do it for me”, as we reflected on growing up and becoming adults. Today, as our twenty year gathering rapidly approaches, these profoundly true lyrics revisited my consciousness after recently encountering a great blue heron. Given the rising tide of Occupy movements, perhaps we might call on blue heron to Occupy Our Selves, while dabbling as spiritual beings having human experiences here on Classroom Mothership Earth. At this juncture on Nature’s clock, is anyone else out there powerfully inspired by heron medicine that invokes within us aggressive self-determination, self-reliance and learning to stand firmly rooted in the Earth on your own two legs? Are you in awe of these magnificent creatures that tend to view themselves as king of the marsh? While co-creating Heaven on Earth in a New Age and Paradigm, herons are a good reminder that we cannot soar in the Heavens if we do not paradoxically also learn how to stay grounded. Moreover, during the waxing on of this eclipse season, it might be tempting to for spirits to soar out of control and forget about balance.

On the global weather front, the reptilian ways of the dinosaurs keep scaling back the leveling impulses of the masses by their “rule by few” mantra, while still pledging their allegiance to the bottom line and almighty dollar. Regardless of where you are on the political spectrum, do you see that by nurturing a global economy that supports livable wages for all of Earth’s caretakers is a win-win for both the top dawgs chillin’ atop the pyramid and the overwhelming majority of us breaking our backs to keep the Boat afloat? Are you able to picture a waterfall, tame the Nervous Woodland Creature energy and stay calm in the pocket like Tom Brady during peak intensity at the Summer Solstice on June 20, 2012 in the Northern Hemisphere and its waning aftershocks thereafter? In my clinical experience, I have learned that like physics, all systems resist change–human beings being no exception. In fact, we humans are quite good at keeping ourselves in boxes by protecting the status quo that is liberally marketed to us by systemic illusionism. But with heron consciousness, like Climate Change, there is security in knowing that there is predictability within unpredictability, order in chaos if you will. If one way is not working, as humans, we are pre-wired with the hardware to reflect and figure out another way. With the energy of blue heron, change is literally on the way.

During this eclipse season, keep your eye out for solutions that might be invisible and undocumented to the naked eye. It is wise to pay attention to relationships that revisit your consciousness, while remembering to maintain perspective. Watch what your relationships have to say to you, remembering to hit the pause button before being trigger happy in the excitement that accompanies its flowering, and perhaps before wilting and becoming the death of you. Nature reminds us of Life’s fleeting transience. As we swim away from victim consciousness, blue heron has the potential to help us stay true to our selves, while wading here on Earth. Further, while taking flight in the Heavens into the realm of Infinity, heron helps us see where solutions abound, if only we allow for it.

While walking in the woods recently, I found myself Falling back into some darker feelings, singing the blues to myself, if you will. Then I noticed the foliage changing colors and said to myself, “tis the season”, as I was able to leave those feelings behind for a spell and shift in alignment with Inner Peace, while remembering gratitude for what is. Simultaneously, I heard a Blue Jay calling out to me and then watched another bathing himself in a creek after I found a place to hide. From the Ground, I looked Up and said, “thank you” . . . the most important prayer I know. And just a few moments ago, I heard a Woodpecker reminding me to follow my own internal rhythms, while My Blue Herons encouraged me to stay rooted as I determine my own Destiny.

Following a Tai Chi workshop last weekend, I picked up some Thai food to go and while driving along the Road Less Traveled, I noticed a Racoon watching me as we shared a heartfelt gaze, if only fleetingly (I didn’t want to crash and burn into either of Us). In the spirit of darkness and disguise, I took my encounter with Racoon as an immediate connection to the self-defense aspect of the internal martial art that I’ve come to love, master of self-defense raccoons are. In fact, the “real master” that taught the workshop struck me as True to His Self, rather than a master pretender. When he spoke of closing Our eyes, if only briefly, it was as if he channeled Racoon’s Medicine to put on a mask and access a primordial space within. I took this lesson as somewhat akin to when Obi Wan Kenobi instructed his late-blooming student to put on a mask and “use the force Luke.” In this way, We may step into a New dimension and access deeper realms. Has anyone out there ever heard of the ‘Johari Window’? In the Spirit of that, Racoon Medicine reminds Us that We have the opportunity to dive into the Unknown and retrieve New Vistas from aspects of Our Selves that might otherwise be unavailable. True, this process elicits ambiguity and equivocation because there is the sense of a ‘death of the old self’ and letting go of ‘who I am’. However, in this process of Alchemy, a re-birth and ‘who I am becoming’ lies on the Horizon. In much the same way as my Nervous Woodland Creature (NWC) friends–well, that’s something I can dig on, Ma Chucka.

Finally, the implications for Racoon Medicine are mind-bending and leaves plenty more to digest through the seasons, even as Chlorophyll wanes and meanders into the Dreamtime. Perhaps an Occupational Therapist might integrate a Shamanic perspective by tapping into Racoon’s energy when working with folks in developing their ‘fine motor’ dexterity and manipulation, while prescribing a ‘sensory diet’. Next time I’m ‘Chi washing’, I’ll marinate on Racoon Medicine when cleansing my Auric energy field and think of my martially masked friend as inspiring me to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables, as I remember to wash them clean. While sleeping, I’ll dream a New Dream of putting to bed old aspects of myself, welcoming changing faces and exploring New Awakenings. Who knows, perhaps Racoon’s medicinal offerings might include some shapeshifting Gateways into my T’ai Chi martial arts explorations.